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Imagine lying on your hospital bed and all of a sudden seeing a pigeon fly through the window to deliver a blood sample.

It may seem ludicrous now, but back in 1977 a scheme was under way in Plymouth to trial city birds for precisely that – well, kind of.

The idea was thought up by Hilary Sanders of the Plymouth hospital airborne division in a bid to cut down waiting times and taxi bills.

She said the pigeons, which have been historically used to carry messages, would cover the two-and-a-half miles from a laboratory at the then Plymouth General Hospital to Devonport Hospital in less than five minutes.

But although the scheme was trialled, it was never officially rolled out – perhaps due to the amount of bird poo involved.

The idea was for the hospitals to use 12 pairs of pigeons with specimens attached in a specially made container. The birds would then fly the sample to another hospital for testing.

When the bird arrived at the hospital a special buzzer would sound alerting staff that the pigeon, with the sample attached, had landed.

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One newspaper reported: “Officials have found that pigeons can make the cross-town trip in five minutes – 15 minutes less than it takes by car. What’s more, they say bird mail costs 25 per cent less than the road trip.”

The mess would have been unbelievable (Image: Peter Marlow / Magnum Photos)

Chris Holwill, who had worked in the city’s hospitals since 1961, said he had witnessed the plans from the beginning.